Buck's Box

Humbling Prayer: Why does Jesus look to heaven to his Father when He prays? Should we pray looking down, closing our eyes or looking up?

Great question and I wish I had more time to cover this on Sunday.  Personally, I love praying with my eyes open and looking up - and you are spot on when you said Jesus prayed this way.  The point I wish I had more time to cover on Sunday was the posture of humility is not necessarily physical, although at times this is a great posture we just can't help (ex: when the Israelite's realized that God is the one true God they all fell to the ground humbling themselves before Him).  This really comes back to the spiritual posture of our hearts, meaning are we humbled internally when we converse with God, are we realizing that He is the one true God, the one who can bring healing, restoration, the one who made the stars and knows every hair on each of our heads?  When we take an internal posture of humility (our hearts are humbled) that's where God loves us to be and that's the beginning of effective prayer.  When it comes to our physical posture of prayer, we can pray standing, sitting, looking up, looking down, eyes open or eyes closed, etc - the Bible doesn't provide a specific standard or command when it comes to our physical posture of prayer.  I love what 1 Samuel 16:7b says, "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."  It's always comes back to the heart.  Great question!

If Jesus is the only way, aren’t people being treated unfairly who have never heard about Him?

This is a fair question and one that can be very personal for some of us who have known folks that have not heard. The Bible is very clear about the way people receive eternal life from God:
 
There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved." (Act 4:12 CSB)
 
Jesus is the only way to God. The Bible does not specifically address how God will deal with people who through no fault of their own never hear about Jesus. Since it is very clear in scripture that Jesus is the only way, we know that God will not provide a “different” way for people who don’t hear. So what are we left with? The Bible does tell us some things that we can take comfort in, even though it does not give us the specific answers we are looking for. As I looked into this for myself, these gave comfort to me:

It is God’s desire that no one miss out on the gift that Jesus offers. In other words, God did not set up a “secret system” with the hope that only a few lucky ones would catch on:
 
The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. (2Peter 3:9 CSB)

God is truly just. He will always do the absolutely right thing. After all is said and done, no one will look at the way God handled things and say “I got screwed”.
 
The Rock-- His work is perfect; all His ways are entirely just. A faithful God, without prejudice, He is righteous and true. (Deuteronomy 32:4 CSB)
 
God is loving. Everything He does is motivated by His love (and all His other attributes).
 
The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1John 4:8 CSB)
 
God is merciful and compassionate
 
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and full of faithful love. (Psalm 103:8 CSB)
 
God has promised that those who want to find Him will do so
 
So I say to you, keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. (Luke 11:9 CSB)
 
God has a bigger view than we do. He has placed everyone in the time and place they live that gives them the best chance to find Him and know Him.
 
From one man He has made every nation of men to live all over the earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live, so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. (Act 17:26-27 CSB)
 
So while God does not give us all the details, He tells us enough about Himself so that we can trust Him with those details. This has been a great comfort to me. I hope this gives you some things to take to God in conversation. If I can help you in any other way or if I failed to answer these clearly, please let me know. Thanks so much for your honesty and openness and I am looking forward to seeing how God will use you, Mick and Chance in amazing ways!
 
Love in Christ
 
Buck
 
The Lord's slave must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance to know the truth. (2 Timothy 2:24-25 HCSB)

Isn’t it egotistical of the church to maintain that their way is the only way?

You are absolutely right. If the church had come up with this system on its own and was trying to say that the system they came up with was the only system, that would be egotistical and exclusive. But the idea of Jesus being the only way to God did not originate with the church. It originated with Jesus Himself. This is what Jesus said:
 
Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6 CSB)
 
Jesus maintained that the only way a person could establish a relationship with God was through Him. That is because Jesus was uniquely qualified to fix the situation that we (humanity) broke. Jesus was 100 percent God and 100 percent human. Jesus was able to make every sin that was ever committed right. The punishment for every murder that was ever committed, every  child that was ever abused, every lie that was ever told, every piece of gossip that was ever shared was placed on Him. This is not an idea that began with the church. It came from the lips of Jesus 2000 years ago.

What is the symbolism of the "fish" throughout the Bible?

This is a great question and one I have yet to be asked, so I look forward to answering it.

Answer:

While the primary use of fish was for food (Luke 11:11; Mark 6:41), preparation of which included broiling (John 21:9), the symbolism of fish included the death of the plagues (Exod. 7:21) and the death of drought (Isa. 50:2) as well as untimely death (Eccles. 9:12). Fish being caught symbolized the helplessness of humans before the power of God (Hab. 1:14-16). The techniques of fishing became a model for the work of Jesus’ disciples as ‘fishers of men’ (Mark 1:17; Matt. 4:19). One of the gates of Jerusalem was named the ‘Fish Gate’ (2 Chron. 33:14; Neh. 3:3; 12:39; Zeph. 1:10) in postexilic reconstruction, possibly in the north wall of the Mishneh or Second Quarter of the city.

Some time in early church life, the figure of a fish took symbolic value as the sign of the Christ. The acrostic derived from the Greek letters of the word ‘fish’ (ichthys) were understood to stand for the Greek words for ‘Jesus [i] Christ [ch], God’s [th] Son [y], Savior [s]’ and the use of the symbol persists to this day in Christian iconography. 

Thanks for asking a great question!

Pastor Buck

Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary (1st ed.) (311). San Francisco: Harper & Row.

Buck's Box - Starting January 11th, 2009

I look forward to receiving and responding to your questions and comments.

Pastor Buck